Thursday, December 5, 2013

JALANDHAR: An amended class action complaint was moved on Wednesday againstCongress presidentSonia Gandhi in the US federal court for allegedly shielding, protecting and rewarding perpetrators of the massacre of Sikhs in November 1984. The application was moved by human rights group Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) along with the victims. Alleging that since Sonia is liable for protecting and shielding those who committed the 1984 Sikh genocide, the complaint mentions that the federal court in US has jurisdiction over the case based on country laws. The complainants have demanded jury trial against Gandhi while alleging that her conduct towards perpetrators of November 1984 Sikh genocide caused victims, survivors and the Sikh community serious pain and suffering.

The complaint states that Sonia Gandhi's acts and omissions "were deliberate, wilful, intentional, wanton and malicious" and should be punished by an award of compensatory and punitive damages. Complaint against Sonia was filed in the first week of September when she was in US for medical examination.

SFJ claimed that on September 9, summons was served on her through the staff of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York where Sonia had undergone treatment, which was denied by her counsel. Mentioning the role of Sonia before the US court, SFJ's amended complaint reads that the carnage of Sikhs was carried out by killer mobs from November 1 to 4, 1984, in 18 states of India, ruled and controlled by the Congress, and "it organized, directed, controlled and/or purposefully aided and abetted the 1984 Sikh genocide".

"At that time, Rajiv Gandhi was Congress president and Prime Minister of the country and Sonia Gandhi was full partner in her husband's decision-making," the complaint alleges. The amended complaint names Congress leaders and police officers who led and facilitated the death squads in November 1984. The complaint has gone into exhaustive details to point out specific instances of impunity, promotions and party tickets to Congress leaders and police officers, who perpetrated the killings or connived with the mobs. The complaint also alleges Sonia's complicity in patronizing and rewarding perpetrators of 1984 Sikh genocide.

Seeking class action certification and US court's intervention on behalf of the survivors, the complaint by plaintiffs Jasbir Singh and Mohender Singh states, "Congress (I) along with its senior leadership, including defendant Gandhi, has acted in a concerted effort to protect their former and, in some cases, current leaders against charges of human rights abuses."

Calling Sonia "mother of perpetrators", SFJ legal adviser Gurpatwant Singh Pannun said that the Congress chief was continuing to extend political patronage and protection from prosecution to those party leaders who were involved in the mass killing of Sikhs. "The case before the US court will expose that November 1984 mass killing of Sikhs was intentional and organized violence by the Congress and not anti-Sikh riots as portrayed for the past 29 years," he claimed.